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27 Oct 2004 : Column 1284W—continued

Disability Income Guarantee

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Yorkshire and Humber and (b) the City of York receive the disability income guarantee; and what its value is. [191222]

Mr. Pond: The Disability Income Guarantee is paid by means of enhanced disability premiums through income support, jobseeker's allowance (income based), housing benefit and council tax benefit. The enhanced disability premium in all of these benefits is worth £11.60 per week for a single person, £16.75 for a couple and £17.08 for a child.

The available information is in the following tables.
Income-related benefit recipients with an enhanced disability premium, Yorkshire and the Humber Government OfficeRegion GOR

	Thousand
May 2003	(4)20

Housing benefit (HB) and council tax benefit (CTB) recipients with an enhanced disability premium, Yorkshire and theHumber GOR

	Caseload (Thousand)
	HB	CTB
May 2003	11	13

Income support/jobseeker's allowance (IB) recipients with an enhanced disability premium

	Caseload (Thousand)
	Yorkshire and the Humber GOR	City of York parliamentary constituency
May 2003	16.6	(5)0.3
May 2004	17.3	(5)0.3

⁽⁴⁾ Due to the process involved in removing overlaps, the income-related benefits caseload is rounded to the nearest 10,000.
⁽⁵⁾ These figures are based on very few sample cases and are subject to a high degree of sampling variation. These figures should be used as a guide to the current situation only.
Notes:
1. The figures are based on 1 per cent. and 5 per cent. samples and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation.
2. Council tax benefit totals exclude any second adult rebate cases.
3. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases.
4. Figures refer to HB, CTB and IS/JSA(IB) claimants in receipt of enhanced disability premium or enhanced child disability premium.
5. IS/JSA(IB) caseloads are rounded to the nearest hundred and expressed in thousands, and HB and CTB caseloads are rounded to the nearest thousand.
6. HB and CTB caseloads will include overlaps where a claimant is in receipt of both benefits.
7. Income-related benefit caseloads include HB/CTB/IS/JSA(IB) recipients with all overlaps removed.
8. IS/JSA(IB) data includes claimants in receipt of income-based JSA who would also be entitled to the contributory element.
9. It is not possible to determine the value of the disability income guarantee. The total amounts refer to amounts of HB, CTB, IS/JSA(IB) paid to recipients with enhanced disability premium or enhanced child disability premium. It is not possible to determine how much of each benefit is due to the disability premium.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 1 per cent. and 5 per cent. samples.



 
27 Oct 2004 : Column 1285W
 

Incapacity Benefit

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many incapacity benefit claimants there are in Wrexham, broken down by (a) ward and (b) sex. [192105]

Maria Eagle: The information is in the table.
Incapacity benefits claimants in Wrexham by ward and gender

Ward name	All claimants	Female	Male
Wrexham	8,340	3,460	4,875
Acton	210	95	120
Borras Park	125	45	80
Bronington	90	45	45
Brymbo	205	85	125
Brynyffynnon	195	85	110
Bryn Cefn	145	60	90
Cartrefle	205	85	120
Cefn	450	180	270
Dyffryn Ceiriog/Ceiriog Valley	95	45	50
Chirk North	125	65	60
Chirk South	70	30	45
Coedpoeth	325	135	185
Erddig	100	35	60
Esclusham	160	75	85
Garden Village	80	35	50
Gresford East and West	115	40	75
Grosvenor	175	60	115
Gwenfro	170	65	110
Gwersyllt East and South	220	105	110
Gwersyllt North	190	70	125
Gwersyllt West	215	100	115
Hermitage	265	115	155
Holt	125	55	70
Johnstown	225	105	120
Little Acton	105	40	60
Llangollen Rural	100	40	60
Llay	285	115	170
Maesydre	135	70	65
Marchwiel	85	45	45
Marford and Hoseley	45	15	25
Minera	120	40	80
New Broughton	195	85	115
Offa	120	45	75
Overton	75	30	45
Pant	200	95	115
Penycae	230	95	140
Penycae and Ruabon South	165	75	90
Plas Madoc	270	105	160
Ponciau	365	150	215
Queensway	280	110	175
Rhosnesni	115	55	65
Rossett	85	40	50
Ruabon	200	80	115
Smithfield	220	80	145
Stansty	130	50	80
Whitegate	240	115	130
Wynnstay	285	105	185

Notes:
1. Wards are based on 2003 ward boundaries.
2. All ward level benefit data is the latest currently available, August 2003.
3. All benefit counts have been rounded to a multiple of five to protect the confidentiality of individual claimants, consequently breakdowns will not always sum to the totals given.
4. Figures are for claimants in receipt of incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance or national insurance credits only.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, Department for Work and Pensions.



 
27 Oct 2004 : Column 1286W
 

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people claimed incapacity benefit in Yeovil constituency in each year from 1985–86 to 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [192066]

Maria Eagle: The available information is in the following table.
Incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disablement allowance(SDA) claimants in the Yeovil parliamentary constituencyat the dates shown

As at May	IB and SDA	IB	SDA
1997	3,100	2,300	800
1998	3,100	2,300	800
1999	2,900	2,200	800
2000	3,100	2,400	700
2001	3,500	2,700	800
2002	3,400	2,700	700
2003	3,300	2,600	700
2004	3,200	2,600	600

Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Figures may be subject to sampling variation and may not sum due to rounding.
3. Incapacity benefit claimants include those in receipt of national insurance credits only.
4. Information by parliamentary constituency is not available prior to 1997.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. samples.

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Preseli Pembrokeshire are receiving incapacity benefit; and how many were in receipt in May 1997. [190897]

Maria Eagle: The information is in the table.
Incapacity benefit (IB) and severe disablement allowance(SDA) claimants in the Preseli Pembrokeshireparliamentary constituency

	May 1997	May 2004
IB	4,500	3,800
SDA	600	(6)500
Total IB and SDA	5,100	4,300

⁽⁶⁾ Figure is based on very few sample cases and is subject to a high degree of sampling variation. These figures should be used as a guide to the current situation only.
Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Incapacity benefit claimants include those in receipt of national insurance credits only.
Source:
IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent. samples.

Incapacity Benefit Employment Pilot Schemes

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) locations and (b) performance indicators are of each of the incapacity benefit employment pilots. [188986]

Maria Eagle: The incapacity benefit reforms Pathways to Work pilots are located in Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Argyll and Bute; Bridgend, Rhondda, Cynon and Taff; Derbyshire; Essex; Somerset; East Lancashire; Gateshead and South Tyneside. The first three started operations in October 2003, and the last four in April this year.
 
27 Oct 2004 : Column 1287W
 

We have not set specific performance indicators. However, the Pathways to Work pilots are subject to robust and rigorous evaluation, and we are constantly monitoring performance. Early results from the first phase pilots indicate a step up in performance with clear evidence among specialist advisers of increased confidence in dealing with this customer group, and positive attitudes to the reforms from many customers.

Incapacity Benefit Tribunals

Mr. Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many complaints his Department has received in the last 12 months about the conduct of incapacity benefit tribunals. [193373]

Maria Eagle: This is a matter for Christina Townsend, Chief Executive of the Appeals Service. She will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Norman Egan to Mr. Alan Campbell, dated 27 October 2004:

The Secretary of State has asked Christina Townsend, Chief Executive, to reply to your question regarding how many complaints his department has received in the last 12 months about the conduct of incapacity benefit tribunals. Christina is away from the office at the moment and I have been asked to reply.

The information you have requested is not available in the format required and cannot be broken down by specific benefit type. However, I can tell you that in the last 12 months the Appeals Service has received, across all benefit types, a total of 34 complaints about the conduct of its tribunals. This is compared to an appeals intake of 234,524 over the same period.

Mr. Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to reform incapacity benefit tribunals. [193374]

Maria Eagle: We have no plans to reform appeal tribunals which hear appeals relating to incapacity benefit.

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